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Jan 19, 2024

Tool & machine factory gets new life as apartments in Black Rock

McGuire Development's Vintage Flats Apartments, on Grote Street in Buffalo Tuesday, December 6, 2022. Nick Wilder remembers spending “summers and summers as a kid” painting the Grote Street building

McGuire Development's Vintage Flats Apartments, on Grote Street in Buffalo Tuesday, December 6, 2022.

Nick Wilder remembers spending “summers and summers as a kid” painting the Grote Street building in Black Rock where his father, John, had graduated from a machine operator into one of the co-owners of Buerk Tool & Machine Co.

So it was “kind of bittersweet” to find out he would be the site superintendent for Buffalo Construction Consultants as workers removed the very same paint he had put on years earlier, only now as part of the conversion of the former manufacturing plant into apartments.

“I look up the address, and what do you know, it’s the same building I grew up in,” said Wilder. “It was a cool opportunity to see such an old building evolve into what it is right now.”

The manufacturing facility in Black Rock that once made gauges to measure oil viscosity in cars is now home to its first residential tenants, after a yearlong conversion by McGuire Development Co.

The Buffalo-based developer spent $6.5 million to transform the former Buerk building into the Vintage Flats, with 33 boutique apartments – 23 one-bedroom and 10 two-bedroom units. Located one block from a developing neighborhood on Chandler Street, the new apartment building is already half-leased, and the project's first tenants moved in last month.

An old punch clock used in a mail area at McGuire Development's Vintage Flats Apartments, on Grote Street in Buffalo Tuesday, December 6, 2022.

"The challenge of this project was how do you efficiently fit units into the space and celebrate the character of the building, without facing too many issues," said Eric Ekman, McGuire's vice president of development and acquisitions.

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The two-story brick building features industrial style market-rate apartments with 24 different layouts, but all have ceilings of at least 12 feet, oversized windows with shades, and exposed brick or structural clay block. First-floor apartments have modern new concrete floors, while second-floor units have either restored or new hardwood floors, as well as ceilings with exposed wood joists for a rustic look. Five units in a former garage have ceilings that are 17 feet tall.

"Each apartment is unique," Ekman said. "Even with a unit type, there is uniqueness, with different types of ceilings or floorings. Every unit feels special."

Designed by Carmina Wood Design, the apartments range in size from just under 500 square feet – the most popular size for leasing so far – to just over 1,100 square feet. Rents start at $1,100 for the one-bedroom apartments, and $1,400 for the two-bedroom units.

A stairway at McGuire Development's Vintage Flats Apartments, on Grote Street in Buffalo Tuesday, December 6, 2022. (Mark Mulville/Buffalo News)

“That’s market,” Ekman said, adding that new tenants are mostly young professionals. “It’s a relatively accessible price point in the market, and the units work well.”

McGuire Development Co.'s Eric Ekman discusses the firm's conversion of the former Buerk Tool & Machine Co. factory into Vintage Flats.

All units have granite countertops, stainless-steel General Electric appliances, tiled kitchen and bathroom backsplashes, and in-unit laundry. Five giant windows were restored, while others were replaced. There's extra storage on top of the closets. Some closets are wide enough for a triple sliding door. And the developer salvaged a demising wall from the second floor and cut it up into wood shelves for the kitchens and bathrooms.

Building amenities in the open central area include a private fitness center, lounge, a pet wash, secure bicycle storage and two electric car chargers, plus 29 parking spaces. Corridor walls are decorated with commissioned ink-wipe prints by Buffalo artist Chris Fritton of Allentown, as well as historical images of activity at Buerk Tool dating back to 1957, from the Buffalo History Museum's Hare Collection.

“We are pleased to give this building new life by creating modern apartments with attractive amenities,” said McGuire CEO Jim McGuire. The building was listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places earlier this year.

A model bedroom at McGuire Development's Vintage Flats Apartments, on Grote Street in Buffalo Tuesday, December 6, 2022.

Located at 293 Grote St., just off Elmwood Avenue, the 33,000-square-foot complex was originally constructed in 1921 as two separate buildings, which were later combined in the 1930s through a common lobby area. The first occupant was the Visco Meter Co., which made the Visco Meter and other devices for cars, and occupied both floors until the 1930s.

That's when Buerk – which was founded in 1919 by Hans Buerk – began production on the second floor, and eventually occupied the entire complex, and then added a garage in 1965. It made precision machine parts for cars, and later produced parts and tools for the U.S. military and for companies such as Bell Aircraft. The firm's products were even sent into space in 1958 as part of an early series of Jupiter-Redstone rockets.

The open kitchen and living room at McGuire Development's Vintage Flats Apartments, on Grote Street in Buffalo Tuesday, December 6, 2022.

The company was sold to a group of employees in 2002, but filed for bankruptcy in 2019.

McGuire bought the factory from the Buerk family in 2020, and undertook the preservation and rehabilitation, with a focus on maintaining the connection to the building's history by retaining or salvaging historical elements. The building's hallways, common areas and even apartments now display refurbished "load lifter" cranes, metal-clad fire doors, boiler plates, a punch clock and line-shaft equipment – many of which were made locally.

One unit even has an operating fire door that can close to separate the living area from the bedrooms, while another has a sealed and painted fire door in a bathroom. Two others extend partway into a closed bridge between the two buildings, providing for a living-room extension for one and a giant walk-in closet for the other.

"The strategy was to try to fit the living spaces and common spaces into the building without covering up and disrupting existing characteristics," Ekman said. "We sweated the details. Each unit has its own characteristics."

The project was funded with state and federal historic tax credits, state brownfield tax credits, and tax breaks from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency.

McGuire is now turning its attention to its next big redevelopment project - The Rails on Main, with 312 new apartments planned for 2929 Main St. in the University District, along with retail and office space. The project - which also includes Blackfish Investments of Utah - broke ground in September, and is expected to be completed in summer 2024.

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